Reply to APS Interesting Responses to Walk Zone Survey

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I don’t understand why everyone is saying move ATS south, and not Key. 
The Spanish speakers are in South Arlington. 
Barcroft elementary should be converted to immersion. [/quote]

Not all are. Buckingham is in North Arlington, and it's one of the densest Latino populations in Arlington. If Key moves S, it can't be moved too close to Claremont or too far W because the Immersion division is E/W rather than N/S, again, to balance English/Spanish speakers and to encourage economic diversity. It might make sense to move Key to Barett. They'd have hundreds of Spanish speaking kids in the walk zone at that location. [/quote]

Barrett has a pretty good walk zone.  But ATS is less than a mile from Barrett, and doesn't have a good walk zone.  Moving Key to the ATS location makes a lot of sense, and would make immersion easily accessible for the large spanish dominant population clustered in the area.

In terms of the E/W N/S divide- APS is very quietly redrawing this boundary.   It can't be to close to Claremont, true- but it could move west.[/quote]

How could they possibly fit the Key students at ATS?  ATS is too small.

And I’m not defending ATS. I think it should just go away and transition to a neighborhood school. But, it isn’t big enough for the immersion programs. [/quote]

The facilities optimization study identifies ATS as having the ability to have 753 seats (as compared to 749 at Key)
https://www.apsva.us/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/Facilities-Optimization-Study.pdf[/quote]

That's with a LOT of trailers, which is not a permanent solution. And there isn't money for an addition, at ATS or anywhere else. So they either have to gradually scale back the size of the program if they are moved to a smaller space, or they have to be moved to a space that more closely matches their current capacity.

I don't know why you guys think they're going to do these multi-step processes. They can barely keep up with what's already planned with program moves, new schools opening, and boundary changes. There is neither the money nor the staff to manage moving multiple schools. And none of the option schools are going away. It's not going to happen. [/quote]

at least some members of the school board think trailers are a good solution.  
APS has a written plan to grow all elementary option schools to 700 plus students-
General Principles to Increase Enrollment at Option Schools
? Grow elementary option schools to 700+ students
? If a waitlist exists for the option school, add an entry-level class cohort
? Review the number of classes annually, after APS publishes enrollment projections, to determine if
adjustments are needed; staff will also refer to the class size report and confirm the information with
principals.
? Grow elementary option schools to the “preferred” size identified in the Facility Optimization Study
(August 2017)
? Apply the adjustment to all elementary option schools

https://www.apsva.us/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/AFSAP-Decision-Points-FINAL-03-06-19.pdf
[/quote]

I like it and think it is about time they do this. If parents don’t like it, they can go back to their neighborhood school. We will know when it is intolerable when the waitlist goes down.  My kid’s class has gotten three new kids so far this year, pushing them to 27. ATS doesn’t have to deal with that so they have a leg up just in that regard to overcrowding. I’ve really heard enough of their complaining. [/quote]

I'm not an ATS parent, but I just don't understand how they're going to grow the option programs permanently without additions or without relocating them into the newly built schools like Fleet and Reed. ATS and Campbell are in really small, very old buildings. If they are growing permanently, they'll need new facilities.

Is that what you want APS to be spending money on? Additions at option schools and growing the option programs? Seems like a pretty bad strategy to decrease the power of the option programs. You're increasing their lobby. Because people aren't going to leave ATS because of some trailers. They'll complain, but they're not going to leave the school. And new parents will continue to apply. Option schools are the perfect fit for type-A Arlington parents. They provide a self-selecting community of highly motivated families. They'll just lobby and win the money for permanent expansions that could've been used for new neighborhood schools.   
[/quote]

They aren’t getting expansions. They will get an additional class for a bit, then they may go back to 3 or 4 and then have to ramp up again when all the new schools are overcrowded. They will plop trailers where they can and move the helicopter landing area somewhere else. What they won’t get is one of the new Schools. That would be political suicide for the SB. And if parents are fine in trailers at ATS, then they shouldn’t be out there saying it will ruin the program, whatever that is. [/quote]

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